Foster Auditorium

Foster Auditorium in 2008

Richard Foster Auditorium is a 5,400-seat multi-purpose auditorium building on the campus of the University of Alabama. Completed in 1939, the building has hosted graduations, concerts, lectures and registration, and was also the home court for the men's basketball team until 1968.

The building was funded in part by the New Deal Public Works Agency. It was designed by the Birmingham firm of Miller, Martin & Lewis Architects, which had been involved in most campus building projects since the early 1920s. After university president Richard Foster died in office in 1941, the auditorium was named for him.

In 1945 the auditorium played host to the "Khaki Kavalkade" musical extravaganza with 100 army performers. The show, produced by Northington General Hospital and the Tuscaloosa County War Finance Committee, helped promote the sale of Series E savings bonds, used to finance American efforts in World War II.

On January 4, 1954, at the end of the first half of a basketball game against North Carolina, Tide center George "Bama" Linn sank an 84 foot-11 inch full-court shot. It was then the longest basket ever recorded in NCAA history. A brass marker was placed on the gymnasium floor to mark the spot. The Tide's mens' teams moved to the newly-built Memorial Coliseum in 1968, but Foster continued to serve as home court for women's basketball and volleyball until 1996.

Because it was used for class enrollment, the entrance to Foster Auditorium was the site where Governor George Wallace staged his "stand in the schoolhouse door" on June 11, 1963. After he made a defiant speech, he stepped aside for federalized Alabama National Guard troops, allowing Vivian Malone and James Hood to enter. A Malone Hood Plaza was constructed in 2010 as a memorial of their enrollment.

Five years later, Senator Robert F. Kennedy spoke to 4,000 students at Foster Auditorium on the need for national unity. Conductor Sixten Ehrling brought the Detroit Symphony Orchestra to perform at the auditorium on February 17, 1971. On March 26, 1976 boxer Edgar "Mad Dog" Ross successfully defended his Southern Junior Middleweight title in a bout against Juan Jose Herndandez. Beginning in 1984 the campus' Union Programs concert series was moved to Foster from Memorial Auditorium. R.E.M., the Go-Go's, and the Neville Brothers all played there that year.

The building was declared a National Historic Landmark on April 5, 2005.

In 2009 the University announced a $15 million renovation of Foster Auditorium, including a new extension on the formerly-blank south end. Women's basketball and volleyball returned to their former home court on February 13, 2011.

References

• Clark, E. Culpepper (1995) The Schoolhouse Door: Segregation's Last Stand at the University of Alabama. New York: Oxford University Press ISBN 0195096584
• "UA auditorium needs complete renovation." (April 22, 2009) Tuscaloosa News
• "Foster Auditorium." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 26 Apr 2009, 03:15 UTC. 26 Apr 2009 [1].
• Jones, Adam (April 6, 2010) "Feedback shapes Foster plaza redesign." Tuscaloosa News
• Staggs, Jordan (November 2, 2010) "Foster Auditorium through the years" The Crimson White

External links

• Foster Auditorium at tour.ua.edu